“Sir Sun, you don't have to handle these minor matters yourself. Let me take care of it. It'll be done in a moment,” said the clerk dispatched by the Yunzhou office in Danyang to manage the affairs along the way for Sun Jin and Chang Huaiyin's party, respectfully.

“It's nothing. This road toll station is quite interesting. The road tax payment certificate is really beautiful.” Sun Jin looked at the woodcut print of the payment certificate and praised it with a click of his tongue.

“Sir Sun, if you need it, I can get you a set to admire.” Although it was somewhat unconventional, this had actually become an extremely cheap and effective public relations tactic for various departments under the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office. Naturally, this kind of violation did not happen often, but for people of Sun Jin and Chang Huaiyin's status, opening this kind of back door was perfectly normal. The clerk casually said, “Lord Ye and Military Governor Dai's wedding is coming up soon, and they will be using a special edition for a while, probably half a month. It's a pity that this batch of certificates should still be in printing.”

Sun Jin chuckled and asked, “It's only noon now. After departing from Dongjiaji, where will we stay tonight?”

The clerk said hesitantly, “Sir, your carriage is better than those of ordinary merchants or traveling officials of the imperial court. Normally, if we leave at this time, we would usually stay at Hanzhuang around dusk. However, if we travel for another hour and a half, given your party's speed, staying at Bonan Town would be more comfortable. There's a Ru Jia Inn there, where all your subordinates can have hot baths. Hanzhuang is a bit shabby... Hanzhuang has made a lot of money from passing travelers, but that bald Han is unwilling to spend money to improve it.”

The clerk's words amused Sun Jin, and Sun Jin readily agreed, “Alright, let's stay at Bonan Town then.”

Sun Jin would not regret his decision. Another group of people also stayed at Bonan Town that day. It was a small convoy from Ye's Workshop, departing from the manor where Ye Tao and Tan Weixin were currently staying – about three days' journey from Bonan Town – preparing to return to Danyang. The information about Ye Tao's current location that the convoy brought happened to be what Sun Jin and Chang Huaiyin needed to know in order to visit Ye Tao. Otherwise, waiting until they arrived at Thunderclap Cliff or Ningyuan only to find out that Ye Tao was actually in southern Yunzhou would be a waste of time.

Ye Tao and Tan Weixin had come to the farm in southern Yunzhou not for a vacation. Both of them were very good at delegating work to suitable subordinates to make themselves as relaxed as possible. Their most arduous work was not handling various practical matters, but constantly digging into their potential in their brains, imagining and recalling all kinds of things. This time in southern Yunzhou, staying at the farm was the same. On the way to Yunzhou, they had imagined producing some Yunzhou specialty wines, and Yunzhou's mild climate, vast grasslands, and undulating hills reminded them of Scotland. Naturally, it led them to think of those very well-known whiskey brands. In the end, the brand they chose was Ballantine's, which seemed to have a very auspicious meaning when translated into Chinese.

Now, Ye Tao and Tan Weixin were holed up in the farm, racking their brains to make whiskey. As for the brewing process, purely from a written description, either of them could do it. In modern society, those who are a bit bourgeois, or even more so, called middle class, have various opportunities to actively or passively accept some wine culture. In social situations full of strangers, this kind of topic that everyone knows about and doesn't involve each other's backgrounds is the safest. When they first arrived in Yunzhou, they wrote down the processes they knew and gave them to the experienced winemaking masters they had gathered, starting experiments on some of the farms they had bought in southern Yunzhou. Now, the experiment had entered a critical moment.

The production process of whiskey can be mainly divided into seven steps: malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation, aging, blending, and bottling.

Malting refers to first soaking the barley or grains, after removing impurities, in hot water to make them germinate. The time required depends on the variety of barley or grain, but generally it takes about one to two weeks for the germination process. After it germinates, it is dried or smoked with peat, and stored for about a month after cooling. The germination process is considered complete. Only whiskey produced in Scotland uses peat to smoke the germinated barley or grains, thus giving Scottish whiskey a unique flavor, namely the smoky flavor of peat. The overall exploration of Yunzhou has not yet been completed, and no similar peat resources have been found in southern Yunzhou. They are using peat transported from Liyang for experiments, as well as various other materials. For the time being, there are only a few kinds of malt in southern Yunzhou, and the drying materials were organized in a bit of a hurry. However, Ye Tao and Tan Weixin were originally trying the feasibility of the process. Whiskey is not something that can be produced with a perfect flavor in one or two years.

Generally speaking, mashing should be carried out in a special stainless steel tank. The germinated barley or grains that have been stored for a month are crushed and cooked into juice. The time required is about 8 to 12 hours. Usually, in the mashing process, the control of temperature and time can be said to be a very important part. Too high a temperature or too long a time will affect the quality of the wort. There is nothing to say about this aspect. Ye Tao and Tan Weixin don't know what temperature is appropriate. They can only let the old masters grasp it themselves, and let the apprentices assisting them record detailed data. Anyway, Ye's Workshop's pointer thermometer technology is quite mature.

Similarly, they don't know what yeast to use. This very secret step can only be explored by themselves. At this stage, the farm has accumulated nearly a hundred kinds of sample branches of different types in several steps.

Ye Tao and Tan Weixin came to the farm this time mainly for the fourth step: distillation. Generally speaking, distillation has the effect of concentration. At this time, the alcohol concentration of whiskey is about 60% to 70%, which is called "new wine." The distillation methods used for barley and grain raw materials are different. Malt whiskey made from barley adopts a single distillation method, that is, a two-stage distillation process is carried out in a single distillation container, and after the second distillation, the head and tail of the condensed outflowing wine are removed, and only the middle "wine heart" part becomes whiskey new wine. In addition, whiskey made from grains adopts a continuous distillation method, using two distillation containers in series to continuously carry out the two stages of the distillation process at one time. Basically, there is no fixed and uniform ratio standard for the amount of "wine heart" screened by each winery. It is entirely determined by the wine requirements of each winery. Generally, the ratio of "wine heart" taken by each winery is mostly controlled between 60% and 70%. Some wineries also use the part with the highest purity to make high-quality whiskey. The distillation equipment designed by Ye Tao is mainly made of brass, and a small part uses steel. From a technical point of view, the distillation equipment designed by Ye Tao is very easy to use and has initially had the potential for semi-industrialization of the distillation process, completely unlike an experimental instrument.

However, they don't know at all how to take the wine heart, and how to cooperate with the subsequent aging and blending processes to have good results. Fortunately, although those old masters are not familiar with this kind of wine, they are all old craftsmen who have been dealing with wine for almost a lifetime. When they first saw the record of the brewing method of this special wine, these old masters began to explore the respective functions and mutual connections of this series of processes, especially after a large number of oak barrels were transported to the farm. The old masters tried their best to get various kinds of wine to do experiments, trying to figure out what effect oak barrels might have on wine during the aging process.

In Dongping, because food has always been a relatively serious problem, even if food is no longer in short supply in recent years, the food consumed for winemaking is still small. The existing famous wines in Dongping are mainly miscellaneous grain wines, and there is still a considerable distance from the famous wines produced by the wineries in Chunnan, which are backed by sufficient grain production. Correspondingly, the knowledge and experience of Dongping's winemaking masters are also relatively limited. Like Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, who can be said to be conducting the research and development of a kind of wine regardless of cost, it is also an opportunity for these winemaking masters. These people, who must love wine like their lives, have completely let go of their prejudices in order to make the best wine, constantly studying and discussing, constantly trying, and almost all the various requirements they put forward have been met. As for some that cannot be met this year, such as more kinds of malt and more kinds of yeast, they will be gradually implemented in the next few years.

Ye Tao and Tan Weixin lamented that it would take many years to have things like twelve-year whiskey, and that with the current continuous improvement of the formula, the first few batches of twelve-year whiskey might not taste very good. However, this depressed mood did not spread to the craftsmen or the soldiers under their command.

On the contrary, the new wine with an alcohol content of more than 60% after distillation, especially the wine heart with the highest purity, is what the craftsmen and Ye Tao and Tan Weixin's confidant guards like the most. Even Liu Yong, Tan Weixin's guard captain who has always been unsmiling, went to the winemaking workshop under the pretext of inspecting the work and poured a small pot of the best-tasting wine heart before the aging process, secretly hid it in his luggage, not to mention others who got those discarded parts from the craftsmen to drink, which has become the most common behavior. Fortunately, these confidant guards are very self-disciplined guys, and only drink a little when they are not on duty. They also have some difficulties. There is only so much wine used for experiments now. God knows when they can drink this kind of wine without restrictions.

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Happy New Year in advance, everyone, and have a happy New Year's Eve dinner tomorrow!

Regarding the updates during the Spring Festival, it's still the same, one update a day, to ensure that I send it out to everyone no matter what state I'm in, as a way to accompany everyone through the New Year. As for the update time and chapter length... please understand, it's hard to guarantee.